When local governments take charge

I often tell the story about the time I led a study team in a visit to Barangay Lopero up in the hills of Jose Dalman in Zamboanga del Norte. Having been in government once upon a time, I like to ask simple folk a simple question in those situations: “What is the one thing you would ask from government if you had the chance?” I took aside a farmer and asked that question. His answer: carabaos. “We need carabaos so we can till our land,” he explained, pointing to the wide areas of land around us, cultivable yet idle.

“So what do you actually get from government?” I pushed on. “Fertilizers and hybrid seeds,” the farmer said. “So what do you do with them?” I asked. “We take them anyway, and try to sell them,” he said. I turned to the municipal agricultural extension officer, who was with us, and asked why she had not informed agriculture officials of the actual needs of their communities. “But we do tell them, time and time again,” she insisted. “All these programs come to us from Manila, and it seems nothing we tell them could change their thinking out there.”

And that is what happens when one-size-fits-all fixes are hatched at the top, without regard for actual needs at the bottom.

One hopes that such traditional top-down management of agriculture would change under the incoming administration of Rodrigo Duterte. Some may be disappointed with his designation of yet another politician, former North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol, to head the Department of Agriculture. But with Piñol’s background as local chief executive, we may yet see the DA finally letting local government units do the “rowing,” and limiting its leadership to “steering” the sector, something for which I have long pushed. And that is because I have seen many LGUs do the DA’s work better.

In 2005, Tuguegarao City won the Galing Pook award for its own Agricultural and Fishery Modernization Program. Then Mayor Randolph S. Ting noted years earlier that of nearly 11,000 households in his city, 6,132 depended on farming and fishing for survival. Annual farm harvest and farmers’ incomes were declining, and Tuguegarao increasingly relied on neighboring towns for food and other produce. The city government decided to offer its farmers a complete package of support, including assistance with irrigation, improved seeds, fertilizers, a farm machinery pool, and other needs. Two croppings a year became possible when there used to be only one, with some farmlands getting five croppings in two years. With improved productivity, farm families saw average monthly incomes rise dramatically from P1,000 to P7,000.

Negros Oriental, through then Gov. George P. Arnaiz, embarked on a program called Barangay Agricultural Development Centers (BADC) in 1997. The province had been faced with food shortage and insufficient supply of fresh fish protein. With agriculture and fisheries confined in the lowlands, upland dwellers lived in poverty.

The provincial government embarked on a process of empowerment involving social preparation of beneficiaries to enable them to analyze the conditions of their own community, identify problems and solutions, and participate in development activities, such as project planning and implementation. The BADC provided a venue for convergence of resources and services from various government agencies. It also served as training center for agriculture and fishery development, with the notable feature of farmer-to-farmer mentoring on integrated pest management, organic farming, vermi-composting, contour farming, and natural farming systems. Women were likewise actively involved in training focused on values education, leadership, management skills and community participatory planning process. From only seven pilot sites in 1998, the program had 74 sites by the time it won the Galing Pook award in 2004. Average annual production of rice multiplied from 900 to 6,648 metric tons; from 1,900 to 11,311 MT for corn; and from 803 to 1,800 MT for vegetables. National Statistics Office data showed average annual farm household incomes in the province to have risen to P90,459 in 2000 from P71,524 in 1997.

The city government of Puerto Princesa in the 1990s saw kaingin (slash-and-burn farming) taking a heavy toll on its lush forests. When Mayor Edward Hagedorn began to strictly enforce the Anti-Kaingin Law, people clamored for an alternative and sustainable agricultural system. The city government established the Carabao and Tractor Pool in response. Farmers had to group themselves into five or more members to avail themselves of the services of a carabao or tractor. When their turn came, they helped one another in plowing and harrowing their respective fields, in the traditional bayanihan spirit whereby they learned to plan, pool resources and work together.

No payment was charged for the use of the tractor and carabaos, but farmers had to plant at least 100 permanent trees in their lands or in areas identified for communal reforestation. White corn production areas significantly expanded from less than 25 hectares in 1992 to 160 hectares in 1996, and yellow corn expanded from 75 to 450 hectares. Cashew production multiplied from 4,000 to 25,000 MT, while mango grew from less than 1,000 to 24,000 MT. Farmers reduced production costs by 34 percent and reported substantial rise in income. Twinning increased productivity with environment protection and rehabilitation, the project won Puerto Princesa one of several Galing Pook awards that brought it into the award program’s Hall of Fame.

Indeed, these and many other similar stories tell me that with the right hand-holding from the DA, agriculture can do better with LGUs taking charge.

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cielito.habito@gmail.com